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He’s fast on his feet, quick with a gun, and faster with the to-die-for beauties that only existed in the swinging ’60s. The superspy exploits of Oss 117 were too big for just one actor, so meet all three iterations of the man they called Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath . . . seriously.

When the festival closed that year the awards were spread out (as they should be) with lots of countries winning something. The Palme d'Or went to Michelangelo Antonioni's brilliant Blowup at the end of the festival (a film we tried to interest y'all in a few years ago to crickets. *sniffle*). Check out Vanessa Redgrave's frankly awesome full-body get-up on the red carpet with her then brand new lover Franco Nero (of Camelot fame). They finally married 11 years ago!

Right out of the gate I should say that Cemetery Without Crosses is notable for a number of reasons. First off, it's one of the only, if only, French westerns from the 60s and it was directed by Rififi actor Robert Hossein who also starred in the film. Hossein, a huge fan of Italian westerns (who can blame him?), dedicated the film to his friend, Sergio Leone who also makes an appearance in the film and directed one of its better scenes. The film's opening theme is sung by legendary British crooner Scott Walker, so there's that, but I struggle to recommend this Euro western to anyone other than the most die [Continued ...]

French romantic comedy has been enjoying something of a popularity boom, beginning slowly in the 1990s and showing no sign of waning two decades later. The 'comédie romantique' (still a relatively new term in the French language) now firmly standardised as a popular film genre in France. The rom-com genre has outperformed all others financially, responsible for around 50% of domestic box office takings and the lion's share of French film production. So why, Mary Harrod poses, has the area been so badly neglected by scholarly research?

This book is not, perhaps, for those with a casual or passing interest in the genre; some degree of academic knowledge and awareness of related literature is assumed here. However, throughout the study, Harrod makes a strong case for academic

Filmed during the height of the Euro Western craze of the late 60’s, Robert Hossein’s Cemetery Without Crosses is an obscure gem rejuvenated by Arrow Video. A French production, the title was actor/director Hossein’s first Western, obviously influenced by Sergio Leone, whom the film is dedicated to (Leone was in the midst of production on Once Upon a Time in the West when Hossein was underway with his feature). A simplistic and familiar narrative is enhanced by its inspired set designs and notable production value, featuring a winning score. Existing on the bleak end of the Spaghetti Western spectrum (or perhaps more aptly the ‘Baguette Western,” an Alex Cox coined term Ginette Vincendeau discusses in an included insert essay), it’s an entertaining bit of style over substance, and is an uncommon French entry in otherwise familiar climate. However, as much as Hossein pays homage to Leone,

A Spaghetti Western with a French director and star may seem an odd combination, but this is exactly what we get with Cemetery Without Crosses aka The Rope and the Colt. Inspired by the success of the Dollars trilogy and dedicated to Sergio Leone, this is yet another addition to the Arrow Video classic releases.

After a family of Bandits lynches her husband, Maria Caine (Michèle Mercier) turns to old an old friend Manuel (Robert Hossein) to exact her revenge. At first reluctant to help, he finally gives in, donning his black glove and infiltrating the family to force a showdown between them and Caine which may just lead to all of their dooms.

Directed by and starring Robert Hossein, the first thing that makes the Western stand out is the catchy theme song sung by Scott Walker. The lynching this leads into sets up the revenge and leads us to the introduction of Manuel,

After her husband is lynched by bandits, a grieving widow seeks revenge and turns to an old friend for help. He is initially reluctant but soon infiltrates her enemies to force a showdown.

This bleak homage to Sergio Leone and the cult of the spaghetti-western is a stylish and atmospheric take on the genre. Bringing a philosophical depth to proceedings, the French/Italian/Spanish production provides enough intriguing ambiguities for a worthy slice of realism. Essentially amoral, it sets out to present the universal truth that people of all kinds are capable of both good and bad.

The stirring central theme (with vocals by Scott Walker) is probably the most typically Western thing about the movie.

Between his high profile marriages to Brigitte Bardot and Jane Fonda, director Roger Vadim engaged in a notable liaison with Catherine Deneuve, just prior to her ascension to international stardom in 1964’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Having brought Bardot to fame with his most notable title, his 1956 debut And God Created Woman, their working relationship would continue across several more titles, even as he married another actress, Annette Stroyberg, who starred in his 1959 version of Dangerous Liaisons and the erotic vampire flick Blood & Roses. Between these flurry of romances, Vadim would return to black and white cinematography (which he seemed to prefer for evoking period) with 1963’s Vice and Virtue a loose adaptation of the Marquis De Sade’s controversial erotic novel Justine for WWII era occupied France, resulting in his only collaboration with Deneuve as the virtuous member of a pair of beautiful sisters surviving on opposite ends of the oppressive Nazi spectrum.

★★☆☆☆ Roger Vadim's 1962 film Love on a Pillow sees Bridgit Bardot as the kind and caring Geneviève Le Theil, a well to-do girl from an upper-class family. After leaving Paris and arriving in Dijon to settle her inheritance, Geneviève meets a young man, Renaud Sarti (Robert Hossein), who attempts to commit suicide in her hotel room. Despite warnings from her mother and his own friends, Geneviève falls for Renaud and the pair set out on a journey of self-destruction.

Love on a Pillow introduces us to the upper-class Parisian Geneviève Le Theil (Brigitte Bardot), a seemingly feisty independent young woman. She's in a relationship which could be heading towards marriage, but she's rather nonchalant about this and appears to be in complete control of her life. Due to receive an inheritance left by her aunt, Geneviève travels to Dijon to finalise the details. Here she accidentally opens a hotel door to discover a suicidal man on his death bed having taken an overdose of sleeping pills.

This is where the supposed plot kicks in. The man, Renaud Sarti (Robert Hossein), catches the attention of Geneviève. She decides to visit him in hospital, and

This coming Monday (19 March) finally sees the home entertainment 50th Anniversary release of Roger Vadim's 1962 film Love on a Pillow - starring Brigitte Bardot and Robert Hossein - courtesy of StudioCanal. To celebrate, we have Three DVD copies of the films to give away to our faithful, world cinema-supporting fans. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook fans, so if you haven't already, head over to facebook.com/CineVueUK, 'Like' us, and then follow the instructions below.

Genevieve, a young Parisienne visiting a small town to find out the details of a newly acquired inheritance, stumbles into the wrong hotel room and into the life on an unbalanced man (Renaud) who had been trying to take his own life, but now focusses his attention on invading and taking over hers. As he manipulates and controls her, we begin to fear for her emotional and physical safety.

*****

Brigitte Bardot, model, singer, actress and activist headlines this curious and relatively unheralded French film from the early 1960′s. It plays to her status as a peerless object of desire, but is a curious combination of sexually frank without being especially explicit. Bardot, for reasons never really elucidated, feels drawn to this strange suicidal Frenchman (a compelling and convincing Robert Hossein) and he gradually comes to exert an unhealthy amount of influence and control over her. Genevieve begins as a relatively virginal character,

This month sees release of director Roger Vadim's Love on a Pillow starring Brigette Bardot and Robert Hussain, and to celebrate Flickering Myth have two copies of the film to give away to our readers courtesy of StudioCanal. Read on for a synopsis and details of how to enter this giveaway...

"Genevieve Le Thiel (Brigitte Bardot) is a nice, well brought up girl from an upper class family. When she leaves her Paris home to settle an inheritance in Dijon she finds a young man, Renaud (Robert Hossein) who has attempted to commit suicide in her hotel room and saves him just in time. She ends up falling in love with the man who appears to be no good for her and despite her mother’s disapproval and warning from his own friends Genevieve refuses to break with her lover. Nothing seems to swerve Genevieve from her own self-destructive course.

Genevieve Le Thiel (Brigitte Bardot) is a nice, well brought up girl from an upper class family. When she leaves her Paris home to settle an inheritance in Dijon she finds a young man, Renaud (Robert Hossein) who has attempted to commit suicide in her hotel room and saves him just in time. She ends up falling in love with the man who appears to be no good for her and despite her mother’s disapproval and warning from his own friends Genevieve refuses to break with her lover. Nothing seems to swerve Genevieve from her own self-destructive course. Yet as Renaud keeps repeating that love is a bottomless pit,

Philippe Lafosse: It seemed interesting to us, after having seen twelve films by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet and talked about them together, to ask another viewer, a philosopher and cinephile, to talk to us about these filmmakers. Jacques Rancière is with us this evening to tackle a subject that we’ve entitled “Politics and Aesthetics in the Straubs’ Films,” knowing that we could then look into other points.

Jacques Ranciere: First, a word apropos the “and” of “Politics and Aesthetics”: this doesn’t mean that there’s art on the one hand and politics on the other, or that there would be a formal procedure on the one hand and political messages on the other.

French actor, novelist and director who starred in films by Truffaut and Buñuel

Those who followed the adventures of Antoine Doinel (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud) in a series of lyrical and semi-autobiographical films directed by François Truffaut – incorporating adolescence, marriage, fatherhood and divorce – will know that Doinel's first and (perhaps) last love, Colette Tazzi, was played by the stunningly beautiful Marie-France Pisier, who has been found dead aged 66 in the swimming pool of her house near Toulon, in southern France.

Doinel and audiences first caught sight of Pisier in Antoine et Colette, Truffaut's enchanting 32-minute contribution to the omnibus film L'Amour à Vingt Ans (Love at Twenty, 1962), during a concert at the Salle Pleyel in Paris of Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. She is conscious of Antoine's stares, and pulls down her skirt. We soon realise that Colette is going to break Antoine's heart.

$15 million stadium adaptation. 15,000 square meters of arena stage. 400 costumes, 200 back stage crew, 216 actors, 124 soldiers, 36 horsemen, 32 horses, 26 gladiators, 9 chariots and 5 Arabian dancers. Although there is no partridge in a pear tree, the stadium extravaganza Ben Hur boasts a production of biblical proportions. Claiming to be the biggest theatrical event to be seen in Australia, Ben Hur- The Stadium Spectacular makes its way direct from Europe to grace our shores for two nights of mind-blowing theatre, at the Anz Olympic Stadium in Sydney. Running over October 22-23, French director Robert Hossein will revive and rejuvenate the Ben Hur legend as made famous by the 1959 Academy Award winning film and the runaway best- selling novel by Lew Wallace, first printed in 1880.

"... They call him Silence, because wherever he goes, the silence of Death follows."

A gang of ruthless bounty hunters, for whom the "Alive" in "Dead or Alive" is mere filler, terrorise a snowbound mountain community, sanctioned by the town's corrupt Justice of the Peace, Pollicut (Luigi Pistilli) – who disposes of those he doesn't like by placing a price on their head.

Following the needless slaughter of her husband at the hands of the sadistic bounty killer, Loco (Klaus Kinski), Pauline (Vonetta McGee) enlists the aid of a wandering gunslinger, Silence (Jean-Louis Trintignant), to avenge his death. The presence of Silence in the desolate town of Snow Hill brings events to a head between the besieged inhabitants and the bounty hunters, and as the black-clad, mute gunman seeks retribution; he can do nothing to halt the massacre that is on its way.

Jeffman from Head Full Of Snow recommends five Spaghetti Westerns not directed by Sergio Leone.

A bruised and battered stalwart of the late night cinema circuit, the Spaghetti Western held a bastardised, custom-job revolver to the head of its inferior American cousin and relieved it of both its basic premise and last shred of decency; joyously blurring the line between right and wrong and leaving morality swinging from a ragged noose in the hot, desert sun.

The Spaghetti Western was an Italian phenomenon, mostly financed by Rome's famous Cinecitta Studios, although there were plenty of co-productions with other Euro countries like Spain and Germany, even stretching as far afield as Israel if you count the soul-sapping awfulness that is God's Gun. One man is responsible for popularising the Spaghetti Western, Sergio Leone. If you're a follower of LateMag's frequent forays into the weird and wonderful worlds of cult cinema you'll probably know his films already.

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